Apollogy Project ready to roll

The Brooks B17 special arrived today and is now installed on the Apollogy, so as of today I'm prepared to call the project completed (mostly). Impatient as I am, I took it for a run to Shellharbour last weekend with another (uncomfortable) saddle and despite the pain I was really happy with the way the old girl tracked and road. She seems very well balanced, predictable but responsive. As a bonus, nothing broke or fell off, so I was very happy.

It has been a long time since I've sat on a fast bike and I can see many more miles a coming in the next few months.

The Vittorio Randonneur 700c x 28 tyres roll beautifully and the new SPD pedals are a huge improvement over the old toe clips and straps. The gearing is working well though perhaps a bit too tall. I am planning a ride to Stanwell Park this saturday so will see how the saddle breakin goes.

While there is still much more to do and bits to save up for (Son generator hub for a start) its goof to have got to the point where its rideable again. I'm looking forward to having some adventures on her again.

Dharawal walk to work recce

In October a group of us from work will be walking to work on National walk to work day 5 October 2007. We will be walking from Wollongong across the Dharawal nature reserve to Wedderburn in Campbelltown a distance of about 15 kms.


IN preparation for the walk a couple of us did a reconaisance (by bike) of the route on Saturday. The Dharawal is a bete noir of mine, having bitten off more than I could chew (or drink) last summer. Middle of winter though is a different story and it was a pretty good ride on mostly well groomed management trails.

The hardest bit is the descent and climb out of the Georges River at the flying fox weir, very steep and I had the uncommon experience of slowly falling off my bike thanks to a stuck cleat. Gillian, my riding buddy for the day hadn't been on a bike for years and was a real trooper, especially on the return leg which was mostly uphill. A profile of the route is on stepwhere - the walking equivalent of bikely.

We will be raising money for the Cancer Council, so if anyone wishes to sponsor us, drop me a comment.

In other news, the Apollogy project snails along. I now have a new 700c x 28 rear wheel of medium quality, new 7 speed cluster, new SPD pedals and a new chain with one of those fancy separator links. I am still waiting for the Brooks special saddle which they tell me is coming soon, any day now in fact. The friction shifter is all rebuilt and working a treat, but I'm still having trouble finding appropriate fenders.

The other big decision is tyres. Everything seems fast and skinny these days and finding a tyre over 25mm is getting harder. I'm think at this stage that I'll go for Vittorio Randonneur as they're available locally and seem pretty good though their are some schwalbe tyres that may be just the ticket. Problem is finding them.